Opinion – Arsenal should do a Chelsea and hire a former England player

Sol Campbell deserves consideration as a replacement for Unai Emery.

Chelsea made a major decision when they decided to hand Frank Lampard the reins at Stamford Bridge and the former midfielder has been a revelation of some sort.

The Blues took a major gamble and it seems to be paying off. That is probably what Arsenal needs to do right now.

We have had some of the best players strut their stuff at Arsenal. Some of them have since gone on to make a name for themselves as managers.

Among the several players who are cult heroes for the Gunners, Sol Campbell has been doing a good job at the lower league positions that he has had, and in my opinion, he could be our own Frank Lampard.

Campbell was just named the manager of Southend after his good job at Macclesfield Town.

He would come into the Arsenal job with more or less the same managerial experience as Lampard had when Chelsea took a chance on him.

While Lampard had the luxury of managing at a higher level with Derby County, Campbell never had the same resources at Macclesfield Town. Yet he did a good job and I reckon that he would do the same given a chance with Arsenal.

Now, I know some, maybe even a lot, of my fellow Arsenal fans will be dismissive of the idea. But let’s be honest, he could hardly do a worse job than Emery or even dare I say, Arsene Wenger in his later years.

Once again martin, you spoil a good post, with your never ending personal digs at AW.

I’m not sure if you were around in his later years, but of the last six, we won the fa cup three times, got through to the knock out stages of the CL four times, while also finishing in the top four the same amount of times, missing out by one point to make it five out of six as well.

Now if your suggesting that Sol could do better than that and AW compares to what UE is delivering at the moment, some fans might believe you have actually only been watching AW’s team during his last season, either that or as someone observed in an earlier post, you actually try to create a toxic debate and just looking for hits…I’m certainly dismissive of two of these ideas, but you got another hit!!!

I’m glad someone is pointing it out. These continued digs at AW are completely uncalled for. We had a great manager that went stale. We need to Continue he’s intention but with renewed vigour. Unai is clearly not the man for the job. We’re actually regressing further.

I haven’t followed sols managerial career to know What type of game he plays.

Does work both ways though. If you’re fed up talking about the past (recent past in this case, thus making it relevant), then that should include Wenger’s successes as well.

The reason that people often mention Wenger in a negative light, is because it was so recent, and to some degree, we’re still suffering from the state the the previous regime left the club in.

Of course one could cherry pick Wenger’s success when discussing him, but that wouldn’t be the whole story. That would be what tabloids do. Extreme editing to create a narrative to convince you that was truth.

Just as some seem to cherry pick his failures TMJW, wouldn’t you agree?
That, of course, wouldn’t be anywhere near the whole story either IF we were discussing his twenty two years.

At least on this thread, the point I was making to adminmartin, seems to be a majority view and, hopefully, he gets the message,

How’s life treating you down under – hope you have settled in and not missing blighty to much!
Are there many other gooners around you and I sincerely hope you took your “merci arsene” and “ozil” T shirts with you to brighten up your day, along with the Dennis tribute T shirt!!!

@Ken 1945. Excellent reply sir. AW is continually dismissed by many because of his last years in charge, In fact his final years, although nowhere near as good as his first years, were a class above what we are witnessing now.

Yes, you are right, Wenger was so beloved and appreciated at the end that they even unfurled banners screaming Wenger stays. I have no problem you disagreeing with what I write but I take exception to your comments about hits.

Your comment has been restored Ken, Pat did not delete it either, we have no idea why it was deleted, we assume it was done by the anti-spam software we use, I really do not know. But I am not petty, I only delete rudeness, swearing, insults etc.

Thanks Martin and to make myself clear with you – I have said many times that I admire your work and passion for the cause, but it was actually YOU who remarked about if you got millions of hits, you would be a millionaire!!!
I’m just helping out a fellow gooner ( if I had a smiley face on this tablet, I’d use it now!!!).

And admin you deleted my post ‘on how including Ozil I the team cannot help Emery anymore’ then you wrote your next headline on the same topic. You should at least give me credit for inspiring your next article. This was the Saturday that followed Leicester 9-0 win against Southampton. I indicated that Emerys Arsenal is so bad Ozil’s inclusions is not the answer.

One of our greatest defenders but no pedigree as a coach or manager. This is not the time to experiment, the stakes are too high. A tried and tested winner is required if the club decide to dispose of UE. And I agree with Ken, get over AW he’s gone and probably having the time of his life which he thoroughly deserves. He actually looks 10 tears younger!!!

Arsenal fans have been extremely patient. Wenger only really got booing and protests around 2017…a whopping 13 years since he last did anything of note in the league. Xhaka only getting booing now, after more than 3 years of trash performances.

Remember that is was the booing, protests, and empty stadium that played a key role in removing Wenger. So you should actually be thankful, and not criticize. I have massive respect for those protesters who had deal with being spat at, and attacked.

It was only at the end when people pointed out to the protesters – that empty seats is the best course of action, rather than going to the games and wanting to be seen affecting the atmosphere. People also pointed out that relaying it to everyone online – how you intend to fly a plane over our next game, it allowed the other fans to put a spanner in the works by flying one of their own over in support. These fans wanted the attention for their social media, I can’t believe they’d be unaware of this before other fans pointed it out to them, they’d have to be beyond daft. Only in the end they done it the right way, we could’ve avoided all that toxicity, I’ve seen one fight break out between the two sets, due to the timing of the message they tried relaying, too often it was when we were in the game and an AFC win would be important for one set of fans – while the other set said they are fed up with top four and cups so they’d rather that we finished outside the places to get rid. Now if I go back to what I was saying about not believing they could so daft as to not know how to do it the right way from the beginning, they’re actually clever, more clever than I initially realized, they wanted AFC to fall because they needed that to happen along with the empty seats and constant verbaling, otherwise Wenger would still have had too much support. Notice how they only done it the right way after we fell further.

Wenger was verbally abused at the train station, I wouldn’t believe what that set of fans told on their social media trying to come out smelling better, it was Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s greatest, and it was always said that the fans on Wenger’s side where your gutless wonders, fairweather or something like that, sheep, all sorts of weak sounding, whereas the other side sounded your angry mob, lack of respect type. It was what it was, don’t try and make out that they were in any way a victim, bollocks to that.

I don’t think Sol would be the answer. We need someone who is experienced, plays attacking football and will be respected by our players. And pleas stop bashing AW. The man has given so much joy to Arsenal fans, made Arsenal into a global brand and created their identity.

We were supposed to go for Arteta, almost everyone disagree, Lampard appointment was a gamble, it would have been same with Arteta whom i rate better than all other ex-players. Ill rather we go back to that plan of hiring a young vibrant coach who has served at the club, and know well about english and arsenal football as well as know how to deal with big players, big pressure, and egos

There is absolutely nothing in the football world that suggest, you are better qualified for the managers job at a particular club, just because you have played for that club.
It is pure nonsense, and the top managers do a good job at almost any club.
Using Frank Lampard as an example also seem a bit premature. His first few games were no success. At the moment everything looks good, but how did Solskjaer look in the beginning at Man U? He was invincible for a couple of months and now, I wouldn’t bet on him to keep his job for the ret of the season.

The crap some people come up with just to start a conversation (or deliberately cause a contentious issue) is amazing. This is by far the worst idea for a manager for Arsenal, except maybe Mourinho, that I have seen here.

Martin , it is widely acknowledged throughout those in the know in ther football world that Campbell is a poor man manager without the charisma and charm of personality that all successful managers vitally need and which Emery also lacks, in spades. His legal stand when at Pompey for his owed money which threatened to bankrupt the club, despite him being extremely personally wealthy already, has not been forgotten or overlooked by the professinals who make hiring and firing decisions. Emery will certainly be gone within a week or two but “chip on the shoulder Campbell” would be a dreadful choice to manage high powered and mostly ego driven top players. Macclesfield and Arsenal dressing rooms are worlds apart and I do not mean purely playing ability either. forget Campbell; he will not be coming to us. ALMOST all Gooners realise that, as it is obvious.

I think Wenger got ur season ticket cancelled or something he did to you personally. Why do you have to drag him in almost every post. Only in last two of his seasons we were out of top 4 n now ppl like you will kill to be in same position so what’s wrong with you admin Martin. Get a life dude! Respect the legends of club no wonder why we are suffering.